PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - In an attempt to reduce crime and to develop the youth in the Crags community outside Plettenberg Bay, local police and other role players have introduced youngsters to the discipline of marching drills.
Not only have they exceeded expectations, but they have now starting to compete against others across the country, becoming the first rural area to do so.
Coordinator of the Drilling Against Crime and Youth at Risk Programme, Yvette Wilschut, said that in January, Crags Primary School principal Ben Louw and police Sector 3 manager Sergeant Byron de Vos – with the full backing of station commander Colonel Nolan Michaels – collaborated to use drill as a tool in fighting crime.
“De Vos started this by asking the school to select prefects. Once the prefect selection was completed they were taken on a camp at Ingwe for a weekend where they did a team building programme. It was at this time that De Vos introduced the children to the drill,” Wilschut said.
Since then, the children – all in Grade 7 – practised twice a week and on 9 August 9 entered their first drill competition in Port Elizabeth, participating alongside 38 different teams.
During the competition it also came to light that drill – through a partnership with police and the education department – had become part of the school curriculum in the Eastern Cape and had been running for the past six years.
In Cape Town the police have also been working on this programme for the past 10 years and will be hosting a competition on October 14, in Mitchell’s Plain.
The Crags team has entered and will be heading to Cape Town next month.
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To prepare for the competition, drill veteran Dawood Davids, who started the discipline in schools a decade ago to help keep youngsters on the straight and narrow, shared his knowledge with the Crags team over the past weekend.
“It not only makes a difference in the lives of these children, but they become role models for others,” Davids said.
He also brought with him two of his Grade 7 drummers from Harvester Primary in Cape Town, to teach the local pupils to play the drums with marching.
“Davids and De Vos performed a miracle over the weekend and managed to get the youngsters at competition level in such a short period. The children voluntarily worked a full Saturday and Sunday and from 06:00 on Monday. They are keen to compete and to win.”
Wilschut said that the school became the first in the Eden District to introduce the drill programme.
“We also invited Suzette de Villiers, the education department circuit 4 manager, and she was so impressed that she would like this to also become part of her circuit’s curriculum,” Wilschut said.
“After watching your drill session, I’m elated that this could be a possible solution to discipline in our schools. I’m excited. I’ve seen children participating, with full attention and not even distracted by passersby.
"They are happy, they are focused and they listen. They want to get it right. I think we should all buy into this as it is great,” De Villiers said.
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